Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Uprooted 11-year old Struggles to
Control Her Emotions in Introspective Pixar Adventure

Riley
(Kaitlyn Dias) was understandably unhappy when she learned from her
mother (Diane Lane) and father (Kyle MacLachlan) that the family was
relocating from Minnesota to San Francisco. After all, she'd be
leaving behind her home, her hockey team and all her BFFs. So,
it's no surprise that the uprooted 11 year-old might be very lonely
after moving to the Bay Area. And, unfortunately, that solitary
condition leads to an inordinate amount of introspection as she
attempts to sort out her emotions, literally and figuratively. For,
her feelings aren't merely metaphysical experiences but five actual
little figurines living inside her brain. This anthropomorphic
quintet, composed of Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear
(Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling), are
constantly contending for control of rattled Riley's moods as she
navigates her way around a new house, city and school.

That
struggle is the subject of Inside Out, the best animated offering
from the talented team at Pixar since the equally-affective balloon
adventure Up (2009). Don't allow the the awkward-sounding premise
revolving around a melancholy kid who's a bit of a head case turn you
off, as the material is handled delicately enough to be appropriate
for a child of any age. A
touching tale illustrating how a dramatic life change might,
temporarily at least, exact a terrible toll on a frail human psyche.

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KamWilliams.com

The Sly Fox Film Reviews publishes the content of film critic Kam Williams. Voted Most Outstanding Journalist of the Decade by the Disilgold Soul Literary Review in 2008, Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications around the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee and Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.